Taiwan’s exports of textile goods in 2017 increased by 1% over the previous year to US$1,007.3 million, thus increasing for the first time in six years since 2011. Exports were supported by fabric exports to Vietnam and China.
Factors behind the recovery are a global recovery of the sportswear market, a specialty of Taiwanese firms, and stricter environmental regulations in China.
Exports rose for the major category of fabrics (up 1% to US$681.5 million), yarns (up 6% to US$152.6 million) and other items of textile goods (up 14% to US$40.7 million), but decreased for textile fibers (down 5% to US$77.5 million) and apparel including accessories (down 4% to US$55 million).
By destination, Vietnam ranked first with US$217.6 million (up 5%), of which fabrics grew by 5% to US$173.2 million, along with yarns by 12% to US$18.7 million.
China came in second place at US$193.9 million (up 5%), of which fabrics rose by 2% to US$120.6 million, and yarns by US$50.8 million (up 9%).
The U.S. ranked third with US$72.6 million (down 5%), Hong Kong fourth with US$64.6 million (down 8%), and Indonesia fifth with US$54.0 million (up 1%).
Quantitatively, exports of textile goods decreased by 5% to 2,115,900 tons. Exports decreased for all items except for other textile goods, and the unit price is higher as a result of value addition.